Friday, May 24, 2013 - Drive Home

Time to get a move on! We got up good and early, because we were quite concerned about meeting traffic coming up that narrow road (especially since it's Friday), and were on the road by just after 8:00. Fortunately, we met no traffic, and the road didn't seem quite so terrifying on the way back down the mountain, probably because we knew what we were in for, and because we were much more rested and therefore ready for any problems that might arise. It's hard to think straight when you're tired. Anyway, having gotten out so early, and since we would be gaining an hour by going into Central Time, we decided we had time to stop for a sit down breakfast, which we did at a Waffle place in the first town we came to (which happened to be conveniently located next to a liquor store, so Hubby ran in and replenished his brandy supply), before heading straight home, with just one quick stop at the Walmart in S. Pittsburg, TN, just an hour from home. Arrived by noon, thank goodness, and were pleasantly surprised that the place looked in pretty good shape. We had hired a guy to come in and mow the lawn periodically, and I had asked him to make sure the driveway was clear enough for the RV to get through, so we had no problems. Got the house opened up, threw all the dust covers in the washer, dragged the laundry and other essentials into the house, and relaxed as much as we could for the rest of the day. We had decided to give ourselves the 3-day weekend to fully recover (or as much as possibly could) before really going at it next week, when we're wall to wall with Dr.'s appointments and chores. There are still some redecorating things I want to do on the new RV, and there's lots of old stuff to transfer out, so we've got our work cut our for us while we're home. Fortunately, we didn't hear any shooting, so it was nice and quiet all evening. Discovered a leftover bottle of vodka, so cocktail hour started a little early today : -).

Thursday, May 23, 2013 - Rest Day

After our long and strenuous ride yesterday, everyone got the day off today. One thing for sure, we've been sleeping really well here, it's so quiet and dark, just the way we like it!

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - Met the Neighbors and Had a Ride

Late yesterday afternoon, several vehicles came in and settled down on the other side of the campground. Eventually I wandered over to say hello, and to pick their brains on what the trails are like here, as the only map seems to indicate there's only one very long trail, no real loops, so I'm hoping there's a few more trails that aren't on the map. It was a woman and her daughter, and we chatted awhile, and she gave me a bit of advice about the trails that seemed would be a little helpful. I'm always wary of asking locals, though, because what seems obvious to them isn't always so obvious (correction, is NEVER as obvious) to someone not familiar with the area. I got the impression they came early in the hopes of securing the spot we had already secured, but I told her we were leaving Friday anyway, and they were welcome to it. They headed back to home after they set up, and Hubby and I saddled the horses and headed out. The beginning of the trail was just the end of the road that brought us to the campground, then, per our neighbor's instructions, turn right, over the bridge, and started climbing up the mountain, and climbing, and climbing. The trail became more and more narrow, and eventually was little more than a stoney creekbed, and we STILL hadn't reached the "Rim" trail! The neighbor had told me the whole trip would be only about 90 minutes, but we had already been going that long, and hadn't even started on the back side of the loop. The trail got so bad, I became convinced we went wrong somewhere, and finally turned around and headed back. Once I compared my GPS with the trail map, we actually were going in the right direction, we just hadn't gone far enough to reach the perimeter trail, which was actually fine with us! We'd going far enough. I remembered seeing a walking horse sign on the side of the neighbors trailer, and figured maybe it was 90 minutes with a gaited horse, but not with our old quarter/apps! It was so steep going up, and we were so grateful to be going down, we got home a lot faster, naturally. Cleaned everybody up and settled in for the evening.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013 - Rest and Sick Day

The sore throat I started getting over the weekend is working it's way through my system in the regular pattern of a cold, the first time that's happened in a long time. I've been taking Alka-Seltzer Cold Plus fizzy tablets every night, so I've been sleeping well, and last night was particularly good. So quiet here, no lights, and the quiet whooshing of the nearby creek provides just a little bit of white noise, like a small fan in the next room, and has provided both Hubby and I with just what we need, a lot of sleep. I spent most of the day in bed, reading and sleeping, which did a lot to improve my cold (and my humor, which has been pretty grumpy lately, undoubtedly because we're so run-down from our busy schedule), and another relaxing evening will likely go a long way as well. Hoping we feel up to taking a short ride tomorrow.

Monday, May 20, 2013 - Harrowing Travel Day to Bristol Fields Horse Camp

Having left several messages with the National Forest Service, who has yet to return my calls, we packed up early and headed out to the Nantahala NF. We grabbed some breakfast at a Dunkin Donuts at lunchtime, stopped off to get fuel and at a Wal-mart to shop, before finally reaching someone at the NF who said that there was no longer water spigots at the horse camp. Not that they weren't there, but that they had been shut off because of some new, ridiculous state law about how watered needed to be treated in order to avoid litigation. Unbelievable, they couldn't just put up a sign say "non-potable" and leave it at that? We are getting so sick of the stupid laws designed for the sole purpose of litigation avoidance, meanwhile whole-heartedly infringing on our constitutional rights to the pursuit of happiness. Anyway, we had to stop twice more just to find someplace to pick up water, then had to drag 800 more pounds of weight up a mountain, which certainly burned more fuel, thus causing more carbon pollution, which the same stupid government keeps claiming it wants to reduce. Speaking of dragging up the mountain, as we got closer, there were numerous signs that the road was closed, and we were afraid we were going to get stuck someplace we couldn't turned around, but then we finally reached where a bridge was out, and our turn off was just before the bridge. We then traveled six miles of the most harrowing, cliff-hugging, hair-raising, white knuckle dirt road driving we've ever done. With very few turnouts, we were delighted we didn't run into any traffic on the way up, but are already concerned about the drive out, which could pose some serious problems, and certainly some scary moments. We finally arrived at the clearing that is the Bristol Fields Horse Camp. With six sites, it had tall posts with hooks for putting up a highline. With the several spigots turned off, we looked for a spot nearest the creek, which fortunately runs the length of the campground, albeit on the opposite side of where the campsites were, we finally decided on site 6, which was the furthest west site, and the only one on the right side of the driveway in. It's a double site, and provided a good opportunity for us to "circle the wagons" and provide some privacy from the rest of the campground. There was one tent in another field beyond the horse camp area, which frankly surprised us, this place is so remote we didn't think many other people would trek all this way, but not so. We didn't see any people, just a tent. Having arrived much later than we had hoped, nearly 5:00, we hurried to get set up, led the horses down to the creek for a drink before putting them on the highline, got the satellite dish set up (another plus for site 6, though we had to stretch the cable quite a ways), and settled in for the evening. No cell service here, that's for sure! Actually, it's a beautiful spot, I hope the trails turn out to be pretty good, in order to make all the aggravation associated with getting here, and getting water, worth the trip.

Sunday, May 19, 2013 - Rainy Unexpected Rest Day

Our original plan had been to move on today, but it's raining, and looks like it will continue to rain for the better part of the day, so we decided to wait until tomorrow when the weather would clear. We can certainly use the extra day anyway, trying to recoup. Another relatively relaxing day, thank goodness!

Saturday, May 18, 2013 - Rest Day

We had scheduled today as a rest day, so we did little but unpack, do laundry, watch TV and nap (well, Hubby go to nap while I did laundry), but we did get to bed early, really crashing hard after all our exertions of late.

Friday, May 17, 2013 - Fly back to Charlotte

Having deliberately scheduled a slightly later flight, we got up at our usual business schedule time (about 6:00 am), took our showers, got mostly packed, then I had a conference call with a potential client for about 20 minutes before going down to our last breakfast at the hotel. Before we knew it we were dropping off the rental car, shuttling the 15 minutes to the airport, going through security, and waiting for our departure, which, thankfully, was on time. Another delicious meal of pasta, salad and pita with hummus (though undoubtedly with WAY too much salt for Hubby, he'll be complaining when he gets on the scale tomorrow), once again surprised at the inconsistency of first class service on USAir. Seems they all have their own ideas of what makes for good service, can't say I was too impressed with this woman. Every other meal they didn't try to cram the dessert on the tray, this one did, and it was hard to get around everything. Anyway, we got back pretty much on schedule, headed straight back to the farm, said our greetings to everyone, and because we were feeling exhausted, and it wasn't too long before we were in bed!

Thursday, May 16, 2013 - Stable Search and Show Day

After three busy days, early mornings and full work schedule, we finally go to sleep in somewhat late, but still in time for breakfast at the hotel. We had an email from Hubby's sister, who's still in England, saying she's finally got Skype, so we arranged to link up today, and all went well, despite how technically unsavvy she claims to be. She even managed to get the video going with just a tiny bit of instruction, I was very proud of her! We chatted for about 20 minutes, marveling at the ability to see each other while having a phone call, discussing all the usual family stuff before signing off before going off the breakfast. We decided to take a drive out today, to check out on possible boarding places for when we come back this way later this year. Since we missed Nevada on our earlier Western tour, it will likely be the last of our 48 state riding stops, and we figured we might be able to drum up some business at the same time, or at least have it be a stopover on our way south for the winter. We even suggested to Hubby's sister that she might want to visit the U.S. again, and this would give her a completely different experience than her Florida and Tennessee visits. She said she would consider it, but she's dealing with a bad knee at the moment, and it will depend on how well her recovery goes. Anyway, we visited three different stables, two of which are good possibilities, the third was a show barn that didn't board anyone that wasn't also in a "training program." We'll worry about that later when the time comes. We headed back to the hotel, then took a quick nap in the afternoon before heading out to dinner and a show. We had planned on going to an Indian restaurant in the Hawaiian market, but they were closed when we arrived, so we then opted to head to the Mirage (where the show was) and get a meal there. We ended up at BLT burgers, but true to form, neither of us had a true beef burger. Hubby had a salmon sandwich, and I had a lamb tandoori, which was essentially lamb meat ground and shaped into a burger, still on a bun, but with a mint/coriander topping. Both were quite nice, actually, so it was a good choice, along with a stout and ale. Next to us was a couple of guys from England who had just arrived for a blowout weekend, and we chatted for a bit with them, helping one with his phone and letting him use my phone to text someone. After saying our goodbyes, we made our way to the theatre, where I had ordered tickets for the Terry Fator show. I was fortunate to get something in the center section, and the show ended up being sold out. It was a lot of fun. He is a ventriloquist who does impressions and sings alone as well, and it was full of both hilarious and touching moments. First time we've actually taken the time to see a show in Vegas! Long overdue, and a nice treat. The show went from 7-9, so we were back at the hotel in plenty of time to have a brandy and settle down for the night.

Sunday, May 12, 2013 - Shop and Relax Day

Had a pretty bad night's sleep. I don't know if it was eating dinner so late (at least it seemed late, with the three hour time change), or the coffee, or the drinks, or what it was, but I had a dickens of a time getting to sleep, and it was fitful all night long. I woke up every hour or so, and I could still hear a rattling from the AC every few minutes, even greater than the regular rattling from it just going on. Unfortunately, the unit was built into the wall of the bedroom, so there was not escaping it. We finally went out to do some errands, including buying Hubby a new pair of (larger) pants, because of the weight we've been putting on in the last few months. Serious diet once we get back to our old, usual routine!! Got back to the room, had maintenance come and fix the AC (a very nice fellow names Louis), so at least it didn't have the extra rattle, and spent the rest of the day reading, sleeping and in the evening, watching a movie. Good thing we did, by the end of the day, I was feeling much more rested, and I have a very big day tomorrow!

Saturday, May 11, 2013 - Fly Day to Las Vegas

The day went as planned, with packing in the morning, driving to the airport, parking the van first, hauling all our stuff to the airport, checking in our baggage, and eventually settling into our first class seats in the front row of the airplane. A few cocktails and a lovely beef dinner later, we eventually arrived in Vegas, in the daylight hours for the first time ever! The skies has been clear almost all the way across the country, so it was a lovely trip, and we even got an excellent bird's eye view of the Grand Canyon! Something we've always missed because it's either been dark or cloudy. Really beautiful to be able to see so much of it at once. An otherwise uneventful flight. We made the mistake of leaving Hubby behind to get the luggage while I took the shuttle to the rental car place, I had forgotten how far it was, and soon discovered there is no place at baggage claim for private pickups, only commercials ones, so I had to park the car, find Hubby, who had been waiting quite a while, move everything to the opposite side of the baggage claim area, out to the parking area, and finally on the road, a good hour after landing! Headed to the nearest store for necessary items, then to the hotel. The first room they gave us was too close to the end of the hall, where that humming noise I suffered from before was still prevalent, so they moved us to another room that still overlooked the pool, but didn't have that extra hum. The A/C was pretty loud, though, and I had to put my earplugs in, but even that didn't help too much. Very tired after the day of travel, but didn't feel sleepy when I went to bed. We'll see how it goes!

Friday, May 10, 2013 - Travel Day to DCT Stables

Set the alarm for an early start, as we had some running around to do after we get everyone settled at Jena's. Arrived safe and sound, just a short half hour trip, though we stopped at Waffle House for breakfast just because we had enough time for a sit-down breakfast. Arrived just before 11:00, got everyone settled, ran out to do some shopping for oats and dog food, among other things, chatted for awhile with the family, then relaxed for the evening. Our flight isn't until late afternoon, so we plan to sleep late and pack in the morning, if that's at all possible! The dogs jumped right back into the pack of dogs that are here, I'm so glad they all get along so well. I notice Billy is a lot less pushy, obviously because he's so outnumbered, but that's a good things, it puts him on his best behavior. The horses weren't too thrilled to be back, as there's no real grass in the paddock, and the paddock next door has a bunch of horses in it, and by the end of the day, Clio had some scratches on her face and head, which I promptly treated with Vetermicyn. Don't know that the tussle was about, or with whom, but it seemed to have been sorted out by the end of the day. Went to bed early, knowing tomorrow would be a long, long day.

Thursday, May 9, 2013 - Last Ride Day at Kings Mountain

Headed out by 11:00 with plans to do the entire perimeter loop around the park. This time we put boots on the horses just because we felt some areas might get a little rockier, and because the trip was a longer one. We were glad we did because we did have some rocky climbs up the mountain. It was a lovely ride, this time going clockwise around the loop, instead of a linear line on the counterclockwise loop just to the Visitor Center. We stopped in a few places for a few minutes just for a break, but in the end, the trip was still only just over three hours or so, just right for a "long" trip for us. The horses, again, were brilliant, with no hesitation on anything we asked them to do, and they seemed to enjoy being back in the fold again, too, after such a seemingly long time away. I'm just sorry we have to leave them again for a week for our next (and almost last) bit of business before the summer begins!

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - Rest Day

Despite all good intentions to ride today, we decided we needed a few things, so I ran into town to shop, while Hubby and the horses rested all day. Had a relaxing evening, though I still feel I have a long way to go before I'm truly relaxed. Wish I hadn't had to spend time running around, but that's the way it goes sometimes! Looking forward to a nice ride tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013 - Ride Day at Kings Mountain

After a reasonably pleasant evening last night, we managed to get quite a good night's sleep, thank goodness, so we had better spirits this morning. Those, of course, immediately improved when we decided it was time to go for a ride. I had given Hubby some Alka-Seltzer fizzy cold tablets before he went back to bed yesterday, and that improved him tremendously, enough to be ready to ride today. We decided to take a fairly short ride today, just to get the horses sorted out, and we headed out about 1:00. We didn't follow the trail exactly, some parts of it we took a main dirt road, but most of it was really lovely. Footing was mostly dirt with a few areas of stone, but not enough for us to be worried about putting boots on the horses, though we brought them along just in case. In about 75 minutes, we arrived across the road from the Visitor Center for the Kings Mountain Military Park, where we tied the horses to a hitching rail and walked across the road to the museum. We spent nearly an hour in the museum, looking with great interest at the various exhibits, which explained the occurrences on a particularly fateful day in 1789 when the local mountain men demolished a good portion of the British forces in the area, and making it one of the final nails in the Brits coffin in terms of American Independence. It was a particularly telling lesson, particularly after our run-in with our overbearing government yesterday. We didn't have time to walk the battlefield, we'll have to save that for another day! Anyway, the horses were brilliant, very well behaved, with Apollo especially good since I put some extra padding under his saddle. He never jumps anymore when going into a canter, confirming the problem has probably been his saddle all along! I can't wait to try out my new bareback saddle, which I would have been using today if horse.com had sent it to the right shipping address, instead of my billing address, which was very disappointing when I discovered it a few weeks ago. Anyway, it will be waiting for me when we get home to Tennessee in a few weeks, I can't wait to see how it works! Meanwhile, it was a very good ride, long enough to give everyone a good workout, short enough not to tire anyone out too much, about three hours of riding, so we got back around 5:00, just in time to feed everyone! A relaxing evening, and still, no sign of rain!

Monday, May 6, 2013 - National Park Gestapo Strikes

Woke up to a gorgeous morning, with sun breaking through the clouds, and me looking forward to getting in a nice ride today, since the weather had finally turned in our favor. Unfortunately Hubby wasn't feeling very well, he thought he might have caught some kind of bug from the dampness of the past few days, so I assigned him sleep duty and sent him back to bed. Around about 11:00, a couple of guys were out mowing the grass and doing other landscaping chores, and they let us know that it was possible with all the rain that the road coming into the campground might run across the road, but we said it was no problem, as we weren't planning on going anywhere until Friday, and the rain was mostly passed, except for one more possible bunch this afternoon or evening, plenty of time for high water to recede. Then after 2:00 in the afternoon, a ranger came by and informed us they were closing the campground, and that we HAD to LEAVE! I tried to point out that we weren't leaving until Friday, and we were self-contained and didn't need to go out, but no matter what argument I used, he was determined to force us to leave. I explained my husband wasn't feeling well. No go. I showed him our high clearance vehicles that could easily traverse almost any water crossing. No go. I explained we didn't have anyplace else to go, especially this late in the day, since it would take us a good two hours to pack up. No go. No matter what I said, he just became more belligerent. When I asked him what he would do if I simply refused, he claimed he would call for a tow truck and animal control and forcibly remove us!! Look, I get they want to keep us "safe," but it created extremely difficult problems for us, and all because it MIGHT rain some more, and it MIGHT overflow the creek over the road, and it MIGHT make it temporarily impassible, and at that inopportune moment we MIGHT have an emergency that would require a first responder, blah, blah, blah! As much as I appreciate them notifying us of the possible danger, that should have been the end of it. It should ultimately be up to us, the citizen, to decide whether or not we're willing to take the risk, not up to the jack-booted rangers to force us to do something that created immeasurably more difficulties for us. I even called the main ranger station and got the same nonsense from them, claiming the decisions had been made at the main office (who have no knowledge of the circumstances on the ground) and were equally intractable. So after much argument and bad feelings, Hubby had to crawl out of bed, get dressed, and start packing up everything. I told the ranger he could go away and come back in two hours, which is about how long we figured it would take us to pack up and leave, but he insisted on hovering over us (without helping, of course), treating us like a couple of prisoners and he was the warden. Very annoying. I finally had to ask the woman at the main ranger station to radio this guy and get him to back off, my attitude was not being helped by his overbearing presence, and he finally left. True to our timing, it was just after 4:00 before we were ready to go, and we passed him in sullen silence as we went through the campground gate, ignoring him completely. As we passed the bridge in question, we were stunned that the water was still several feet below the road, and unless they had tremendous amounts of rain (which only a little rain was forecast), it posed no threat whatsoever, so our entire episode was unnecessary. As soon as I could, I called ahead to Kings Mountain, which was the only horse camp between us and Charlotte, and we didn't want to go further away considering we had to come back in a few days anyway, so we let them know we were coming, but that we couldn't make it by 5:00. They said they'd keep an eye out for us, and true to their word, a nice young ranger was waiting for us when we arrived. We spent a few minutes dumping our black water while I checked in, then we headed down to the campground. At least there's a cell phone signal here, though satellite is impossible, as it's too wooded with no openings to point through. What a waste of a beautiful day! We ran into nothing but sun and partly cloudy skies, no sign of rain whatsoever, which did little to soothe my irritation, and, of course, the extent of my exhaustion from such a busy few months was such that I was a long way from full rest and recovery, so I was much more irritable than I ever like to be. Of course, it's compounded by my ever-growing realization of just how close we are to a police state in this country, when we are forced to rescind our right to take care of ourselves and take risks and responsibilities on our own, and hand over that task to a government that continues to prove time and time again that they are not capable of looking after themselves, much less the citizenry. The day of revolt is coming, I fear, unless people wake up and realize just how bad it's getting and change the political system back to a responsible republic, not the nanny-mothering (or should I say "smothering") state that it's rapidly becoming. Enough of my rant, I'll be better once I get back on my horse!!

Sunday, May 5, 2013 - Another Rainy Day

Rained all night and all day today, so other than looking after the horses, we spent the day reading and watching TV. Very valuable day for us to put more deposits in our sleep bank!

Saturday, May 4, 2013 - Relaxing Rainy Day

After another long and excellent night of sleeping, we decided the best thing to do today was as little as possible, so we broke out the Kindles and settled into our recliners for most of the day. Some rain came in during the afternoon, and the temps dropped a bit, so it's just the kind of weather where you want to stay inside anyway! Enjoyed watching the Kentucky Derby (though I wish I had the ingredients for a mint julep, but I forgot about it last time we were in the liquor store), and listening to all the fuss about the rain and how it would affect the race. I'll give NBC their due, it was the best coverage of the race we've seen in a long time! Usually they don't pay hardly any attention to the horses, they make it all about the owners and trainers, but it seems they finally figured out it's the HORSES people tune in to see. I guess that's one good thing about social media, you get instant feedback on what you're doing wrong! At least they apparently listened, because it certainly was better this time around, usually we skip through most of it, but this year they actually got our attention. Anyway, more rain here as well as in Lexington, so another quiet evening for us.

Friday, May 3, 2013 - Errands on a Rainy Day

It was mostly cloudy and a bit rainy today, but my mail had arrived at the Chester Post Office (after a brief interlude when it got lost because I switched a single zip code digit), so I ran into town to pick it up, as well as do a few more errands that had come up. It was raining by the time I got back around 5:00, and the forecast seems to indicate we're going to be socked in for a few days. We would really like to ride here, but it's more important for us the recharge our bodily batteries after such a long stretch with few real breaks, and frankly, a few rainy days will be just the thing. We went ahead a put a rain sheet on the Clio, as she had been shivering a tiny bit this morning from the damp cold, and later put one on Apollo as well, in anticipation of the forecast. I slept better last night than I have in a LONG time, and a few more nights like that are just what I need! Relaxed the rest of the evening, looking forward to another good night sleep.

Thursday, May 2, 2013 - Finally, We Moved on to Woods Ferry

Feeling renewed after a good night's sleep, we packed up, got the horses in the trailer, and were headed out before 11:00. It's only a 90 minute or so drive, so we weren't in too much of a hurry, though we had a couple of stops to make. Fortunately, while I thought I would have to circle the town of York to get everything we needed, it turns out we had everything right along the main highway, so we were able to get everything in short order. We arrived at Woods Ferry just after 2:00, with Hubby a little confused. He had had a completely different image of the place in his mind, and I had to spend some time jogging his memory of our last time here, which was three years ago! Thank goodness I'm keeping a diary or I would never remember any of this stuff! It had been a horrendous trip down last time, suffering two flat tires on the same day, and several other things occurred that finally helped him remember. Anyway, although my diary says we got a satellite signal at the place we parked last time, Hubby wasn't sure he could do it again (maybe there are more leaves on the trees this time or something), but in any event, we found a better spot higher up the loop anyway. I'm pretty sure these spots were all full last time we came here, because it was Easter weekend and we didn't arrive until Friday. That was back when we first were horsecamping, and hadn't yet learned to arrive on Thursdays to get the best spots : -). Anyway, we got the horses settled into their two open corrals, and got everything else set up in no time. Home again, home again, with a new backyard! LOVE being surrounded by the woods again, how I need this!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 - Exhaustion Hits, Plans Change

Although we had planned on leaving to go to Woods Ferry today, I was so exhausted I just couldn't muster the energy. Much as I want to get out into the woods and relax, my attitude was just too crabby and I felt like I had the possible beginnings of a cold, so we decided it would be better if I just stayed in bed and got as much sleep as I could, so that's what we did. It's hard to sleep parked in someone's back yard, though, especially a busy working farm like this one, where there's always some activity going on, even if it's just the roosters!